encouraging computational thinking in the primary classroom

Barefoot Computing

www.barefootcas.org.uk

@zoeross19

Think up 20 uses for this...

ThinkDirect one’s mind towards someone or something; use one’s mind actively to form connected ideasOxford English Dictionary

“A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.”

National Curriculum

Computational Thinking

Looking at problems in a way that computers can help us to solve it.

Computational Thinking1. First, we think about the steps needed to solve a problem.

2. Then, we use our technical skills to get the computer working on the

problem.

Computational Thinking

Why?

Image from Smart Girl

cc edanley

cc Nitevision

cc exfordy

Problem Solving: Sudoku

Activity

Think about your teaching...identify1 area where you already incorporate computational thinking concepts and explain how.

● Constructivism ● Discovery learning● Project-based learning

Piaget, Bruner, Parpet

Ashbrian CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Discovering

Guided Learning

Tinkering Time to explore before given specific direction

Mitch Resnick ● Creative society● Not what we know but our ability to think

and act creatively● “The ultimate goal is a society of creative

individuals who are constantly inventing new possibilities for themselves and their communities.”

Creative computing projects ● Involve problem solving● Relate to pupil experiences / world

around them● Topic based (cross-curricular)● Incorporate computational thinking at

the corewww.barefootcas.org.uk

Think about your computing curriculum...how could you include creative computing projects that incorporate computational thinking?

What Barefoot Offers

● 10,000+ registered users on our website

● 14,000+ downloads of our resources

● 3000+ teachers from 800+ schools free workshops

Some Statistics...

Resources mapped to the computing programme of study

Easy to understand explanations of computer science concepts

Cross-curricular activities to teach your pupils

Free workshops delivered by Barefoot volunteers

Find out more!

@barefootcomp#barefootcomp

www.barefootcas.org.uk